Also, "To every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food."
The statement clearly indicates that animals were made to live, and not for food. I strongly believe that if everything on earth were distributed properly and evenly, there wouldn’t be such thing as poverty. Everyone will be equal and there would be no greed and crimes. The idea can go a very long way and can affect our planet in countless wonderful ways, but of course this is a bit far from reality, although there is no harm dreaming nor believing in such thing.
Vegetarianism has been around for many, many years now, and there have been thousands of people who follow this trend. I call it a "trend" because celebrities have been promoting it recently. I remember watching a fashion show interrupted by models who brought huge signs that read, "I’d rather go naked than wear fur."
I was too young then to really know what was going on. The first time I was introduced and gained some understanding about all this was a little over a year ago, while shooting a film with Chin-Chin Gutierrez. She has been a vegetarian for seven years and shared with me her thoughts.
Chin-Chin says, "I had to really plan it (becoming a vegetarian) and I found that the best way to adjust is to purchase veggie meat."
"They actually taste and look very similar to meat, but it’s made out of vegetables. I can make ham sandwich, just add lettuce and cheese and it still tastes very good even with the veggie meat. Actually my parents’ siblings passed away because of cancer and my mom was diagnosed with diabetes. I realize that if I continue to follow their eating pattern, I might end up getting such sickness. I thought to myself also that what if 10 years down the road, I want to have a child. I would prefer for my womb to be very clean," she adds.
Chin-Chin has done intensive research on this. It wasn’t something she just planned overnight. She loves and respects all living things and believes animals have souls and a life-path that they follow. This is the main reason why she chose to go in this direction.
"Spiritual reasons also, because they (animals) have feelings, too. They have what we call a soul journey on Earth as well. I don’t want to meddle with a journey of another living being. Humans and animals have a very intricate relationship if we only pay attention," she relates.
If we look around, there are a lot of people who have pets in their home, yet still have the heart to eat meat. What is the difference between dog meat and pork? They’re both animals with feelings and as much rights as humans do to live on this planet.
Diether Ocampo has six dogs and seven cats. A couple of his dogs were gifts from friends. Since then, he became very close to these animals and decided to get some more.
Diether says, "I think local zoos should be shut down. These animals don’t deserve to be put in cages. There have been a lot of research that proves these animal shelters cannot really take good care of their animals. This is why most of the animals exhibit behaviors that are not so normal."
He also suggests that instead of bringing children to the zoo to learn about these animals, maybe our community can come up with a video that can be used for years rather than keeping animals in cages. As Chin-Chin says, "They’ve got feelings too and imagine how you would feel if we were put in a cage for people to see and take pictures of."
Diether is still in the process of becoming fully vegetarian, "It’s very difficult to just shift to a different diet. It’s not that easy to just cut down on things your body is used to. It takes time," he explains.
"If you force it, then you end up getting an adverse reaction," he says.
I’ve given this a lot of thought and am considering learning more about eating healthy without taking any lives. Animals should be loved. They deserve as much respect as other beings. It’s always good to know exactly how our food is processed and where it came from.
So far, I’ve done research on how animals are slaughtered, and I was shocked. This is not something we really think about while we chew on some really good beef stew or lechon, but the process it goes through is pretty heartbreaking. I hope that some of you consider this idea in your homes, especially those with pets.
Have a wonderful Sunday!
(E-mail me at julianapaler-mo785@yahoo.com.)